Saturday, January 28, 2006

Drugs - Andersen out of the league

New Orleans Hornets forward Chris Anderson has been thrown out of the team due to drug abuse. He is the second player to be fired from the team due to same abuse. According to Stanley Roberts, Andersen is the first player to be kicked out of the league due to drugs since 1999. He has been disqualified to play in any league games for at least two years. Andersen is found guilty of using the drugs amphetamine and its analogs, which include methamphetamine; cocaine; LSD; opiates, including heroin, codeine and morphine; and PCP. It is amazing to know that he was previously been suspended from the league due to the use of steroids.He is also referred to as “Birdman”. Andersen has career averages of 5.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in more than four seasons with the Nuggets and New Orleans. He is an active player overall who has participated in slam Dunk Contest in 2003 and 2004. He was the first player to came-up directly from the D-League to the NBA.

The dismissal of this kind is not the first time as Andersen is the second person to be fired due to drug abuse. The first player to experience such a punishment was Roy Tarpley in 1995 who was dismissed from the team as he was found guilty of the same crime. He was found responsible to multiple violations and was suspended for his life in the year 1995. In 1991 he was stated to stop the use of drug cocaine then in 1994 he was reinstated but again in 1995 he was fired for using alcohol.

The dismissals of such kind can decrease occurrences of such violations but the question here arises is - Will such punishments help to dismiss such defiance at all? If it was the case then after the dismissal of Roy Tarpley in 1995 there would not have been any person to repeat it again. So there seems to be a need of more severe punishment so that no one repeats it again. It is commonly thought that the fine and dismissal of a player would affect ones career and hence the rate of crime but the results show a need for more severe punishment in order to entirely stop the crime from happening.